Opposing the corporate war

Anti-war campaigners across the UK and around the world have been taking direct action against the arms companies supplying the war who stand to profit from increased military budgets.
50 ‘Civilian Weapons Inspectors’ took a look round a BAe Systems munitions plant at Glascoed, South Wales, gaining entry to sensitive areas despite the refusal of security guards and police to comply with demands to disarm. One group locked on inside a factory building, while others evaded detection for over an hour. Glascoed fills and packages bombs, shells, grenades and other munitions, known in the trade as ‘lethal package technologies’, which makes them all sound like letter bombs. Some of the munitions assembled there in the past have contained depleted uranium, a possible candidate for the cause of Gulf War Syndrome and suspected cause of the massive increase in leukaemia and birth defects in Iraq since the first Gulf war. A few weeks earlier, BAe Systems had received a £750m bailout from the UK government at the same time they were claiming not to be able to pay the firefighters…
http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=55735&group=webcast

The previous day, seven Midlands peace campaigners were arrested after successfully closing the Rolls Royce site at Derby for 1 hour. The company was targeted for its crucial role in the manufacturing of fuel components for nuclear submarines. The activists from Trident Ploughshares, the direct action campaign to peacefully disarm the British Trident nuclear weapons system, closed the Raynesway site just before 7am by locking themselves to the entrance gates. A traffic jam ensued and some employees were sent away. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has threatened that use of biological or chemical weapons by Iraq could provoke a nuclear response – he is obviously unaware that the threat of using nuclear weapons is illegal under international law. http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=55500&group=webcast
The companies and police forces involved have seemed strangely reluctant to press charges, even where they have arrested people on these actions. Lesson? The arms trade is so ashamed of its bloody business of death and destruction that it’s too scared even to prosecute a rag-tag bunch of protestors for fear of the negative publicity it would garner them.

Book review:

Climate facts/demands for action by Nares Craig

This little book is intended as a ‘wake up’ call to humanity and provides a concise introduction to the perilous state of the planet. It is highly ambitious in its scope – highlighting the major environmental problems of our day and outlining actions necessary to tackle them.
The book’s scope is perhaps too ambitious given its size. The author has condensed some complex phenomena into a few paragraphs and in doing so has oversimplified some of the processes described. His picture of climate change is a worst case scenario, and his failure to cite primary references provides ideal fodder for the likes of Bjorn Lomborg to tear apart.
Overall, the author’s assessment of the perils confronting humanity is good, however some arguments are slightly tenuous. For example, his assertion that illiterates constitute a heavy ‘burden on society’ seems elitist given that the majority of illiterates are women in the developing world, who collectively form the backbone of many agrarian societies. It is not subsistence farmers and women in the developing world that are the burden on society as a whole, but Westerners, through their inequitable consumption of resources.
The demands for action are also rather inconsistent. Whist some of the moves he suggests, such as disbanding the World Bank and WTO, are quite radical (and laudable) some fail to sufficiently tackle the problems he outlines. For example, he cites ‘natural, compressed and liquified gas’ as ‘clean’ sources of fuel for transport –clearly using Exxon’s definition of ‘clean’. His promotion of deep-mined coal as an electricity source appears positively strange, given his earlier predictions concerning climate change.
Nevertheless, the book provides a good concise overview of the problems facing our planet. An excellent book to drop on the coffee table of an ignorant relative.

Advance party announcement:

You are invited to be part of a Carnival Against Oil, Wars and Climate Chaos outside BP’s Annual General Meeting on April 24th 2003 at the Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London.

Book the day off work now to come down and say NO to:

· Bloody Politics ­ BP is pushing for a big slice of the Iraqi oil pie;
· British Plunder ­ BP’s pipelines in Colombia, Tibet, Alaska and West Papua are causing destruction, murder and destitution;
· Burning Planet - BP is planning to build the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which would have an enormous negative impact on the climate, not to mention the human rights implications.

This will be a celebration of the many safe, sustainable and socially just futures that could lie ahead of us. In the run up to the AGM there will be a speaker tour, alternative AGM and the publication of an alternative BP annual report whose initial aim is to counter the illusion of the ‘good’ oil company. Please send BP-related pictures, quotes, graphics, testimonies and other info before March 15th. April 24th will also be an international day of action against BP.
To get involved in any of the above, or for more information, contact: london@risingtide.org.uk www.burningplanet.net
62 Fieldgate Street, London E1 1ES.